Conventional railway track, which has been well known in the art for more than one hundred years, and of which millions of miles of track is in existence, comprises a pair of spaced apart metal rails, rigidly held parallel to each other by a plurality of sleeper members positioned at regular intervals along a main length of the rails. Many different materials are known for use in forming sleeper members, for example wood, steel and concrete.
Modern methods of laying of railway track typically fall into one of two types. A first type of track laying method is known as single-track renewal wherein track components i.e. separate sleepers and lengths of rail are transported to the track laying site on a flat bed-type railway cargo wagon. Single-track renewal/laying takes the form of laying track in front of the cargo wagon such as to extend the track upon which the cargo wagon is mounted. As more track is laid the wagon is progressed down the track and so the track length is extended. A crane or hoist is typically operable to move between the cargo wagon where sleepers and rail length are stored to the track-laying site.
A second mode of track renewal comprises parallel track renewal wherein the track being laid or renewed is parallel to an existing track. A set of cargo wagons carrying the track components e.g. sleepers and length of rail is moved along side the site of an area of track due for renewal or for first laying. Cranes separate to the wagons then operate to individually unload single sleepers from the wagons which are then laid and to which separate rail lengths are then fixed into position.
Both of these prior art track laying/renewal methods are time inefficient.
The typical time taken for laying a 300 yard length of track comprising multiple 60 foot track panels, each made up of 28 sleepers and 2 rails, is typically in the region of 5 to 6 hours.